captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the countdown begins on a potential government shutdown. republicans struggle to pass a short term fix for government funding. then, testimonies of horror and abuse: more than 100 women, including olympic gymnasts, speak out against disgraced sports doctor larry nassar. and, one year into donald trump's presidency, making sense of the president's policies and how they directly impact jobs and the stock market. >> i was very uncertain as an economist about what would happen with the economy but it seems as if consumers are able to divorce many of their concerns about america's political state from its

economics. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the federal government may be just one day away from closing down, for lack of funds. with the house voting tonight on a spending bill, and senate support crumbling, the ultimate outcome is anything but clear. lisa desjardins reports on how the day played out. >> desjardins: over the capitol, the gathering winds of a possible shutdown, because inside only one funding bill was on the table.

and it was in trouble. the house republican bill would fund government for a month, suspend several obamacare medical taxes for up to two years and, to woo votes, it would fund the popular children's health insurance program, or chip, for six years. but that bill had problems in both parties. republican members of the house freedom caucus, as well as some senate republicans, said short term spending bills are too harmful for the military, and they threatened to vote no. president trump was at the pentagon today to underscore the g.o.p.'s point. >> if for any reason it shuts down, the worst thing is what happens to our military. >> desjardins: democrats similarly threatened to vote no but because there is no deal on how to protect so-called daca kids-- those brought here illegally as children. one sure sign that a shutdown was closer: the escalating blame game. republican speaker paul ryan pointed to democrats, especially on the other side of the

capitol. >> if the senate democrats want to shut the government down, if the senate democrats want to deny funding for our troops, if the senate democrats want to stop chip funding for unrelated issues, that's a choice they would make. i don't think it's a good choice for them to make, but that would >> desjardins: house democratic leader nancy pelosi pointed to republicans, saying they've ignored daca and other non- defense issues. >> if i had to say what the main hold up in all of this is, is the lack of willingness on the part of republicans in congress to support a domestic agenda increase as they support a military increase. this is like giving you a bowl of doggy doo, put a cherry on top and call it a chocolate sundae. this is nothing. >> desjardins: to this stormy divide, president trump himself added even more turbulence. initially seeming to tweet against the house funding bill, writing that chip should be part of a long term solution.

one republican leader tweeted back to tell the president the chip portion of the bill was in fact a long-term deal. the white house later clarified the president supports the hou bill. later, touring a business in pennsylvania, the president said democrats want a shutdown to undermine his success. >> i really believe the democrats want a shutdown to get off the tax cuts because they've worked so well. >> desjardins: as for the chances of a shutdown... >> we'll see what happens. >> desjardins: on the house floor by the afternoon, oklahoma's tom cole made a plea to both parties to pass the one- month bill. >> facts do matter here. and the fact of the matter is: anyone who votes no on this resolution is voting to shut down the government. >> desjardins: there are now just over 24 hours for lawmakers to work out a deal before some government functions, starting with some national parks, start to shut down. >> woodruff: we get a deeper look now at the government shutdown fight with lisa, joining us from capitol hill, and yamiche alcindor.

hello to both of i, lisa, i'm dizzy listening to all of this. where does everything stand right now. >> we actually have breaking news, judy. just minutes ago our capitol hill reporter was outside the meeting with the freedom kaw sus-- caucus and fall ryan, the conservative group leader, he says the speaker offered him a deal to add more for the defense department in this. they don't say what that is exactly but the freedom caucus chairman says he likes that deal. he will take it back to his conference. i think what this means is pass age of the short-term spending bill has become much morally in the house tonight. but that is not the end game leer, there are still very serious problems in the senate. let's look at the no votes we learned about today in a graphic. republican no votes that we know of publicly lindsey graham, rand paul, mike rounds and we also think mike lee may in fact be a to vote just not stated yet. but there are democratic no votes, five democrats who voted yes in december, judy.

they are all no votes now. why does that matter? because you figure out the math, and with john mccain absented, right now republicans need some 14 democrats in the senate to pass a short-term spending bill. if those five democrats are a no, they don't have it. so this house bill is dead on arrival in the senate. if that is the only bill in town, that means we will have a shutdown. >> and i talked a little while ago to senator mike rounds, a republican, we will be playing that in a little bit on the program am but mean time yamiche, the other big player here is the president. how do you describe his role in all of this today? >> historically presidents are someone who are people who have helped broker deals. they've gone to visit the hill and talk to people, have personal relationships with lawmakers. that they could leverage into me sor deal nsmhis case president trump has done the exact option. one he doesn't have the relationship wh lawmakers because he doesn't have a long history in politics but two there is this issue that he is seblly really throwing some

bombs so there is this idea that this immigration comments continue to be something that is a cloud hanging over a lot of the things happening on the hill and even today, the cdc an others were talking about censoring him so the fact that the president is not helping this at all. >> woodruff: congressional black caucus you are referring to. >> yes. >> woodruff: so lisa whack does this mean over the incomes few days. >> there are two options, one is that there is a different bill that show springs out of the ground at capitol hill as they can do which might be a shorter-term funding bill maybe one to five or six days. now senator cornyn's office told me tday they are rejecting that idea. but that's today. tomorrow is the deadline and there are some republican senators i talked to today that think that is what could happen. that is option 1. if there is not that kind of new shorter term bill, then we will have a shutdown beginning tomorrow night at midnight that will affect much of government including many of the offices here on capitol hill. after that the senate will take

sort of a procedural vote on the house bill it will fail in the early morning of saturday. and from there, judy, honestly we're not sure what happens next. there are many different talks and i think we're still a little bit in limbo on. this i think expectations are that we very well could face a shutdown with a little bit of hope that something happens tomorrow to avoid it. >> woodruff: we're all on the edge of our seats, yamiche, we're already hearing about the blame game and we know democrats are saying it is the republicans. we heard that from nancy pelosi. but the president and republicans know they're going to be blamed they will point finger as democrat, how will the president deal with that. >> the two things are going on. the president essentially is already fore shadowing the message he will have toward democrats. he visited the pentagon today and essentially said our military will be at risk if the government shuts down. and he said essentially we need the military more than ever. i think most reporters hear that as a wink to north korea and all

the crises we have going. the other issue is i think that the president has really contradicted his staff. we go back to the idea, the role he is playing in these conversation, john kelly told people he is a-- on the wall. the staff is saying he is fully behind this thing and he is tweeting he is not a-- on the wall, and he also tweeting build this idea of a chip not wanting to be part of a long-term deal, there is an idea that the president is fore shadowing messageses and making it harder to reach a deal. >> woodruff: what about the democrats, how do they defend their role. >> they say republicans are in charge. they are the ones who run the house, senate ands who. of course most americans know you need 60 votes in the senate. and i think that is the bottomline. we can see clearly what is happening here. both parties are opposing a funding deal, both parties would be responsible for spending deal and it is your perspective on which you want to blame more. >> woodruff: we are all all eyes at this point and the american people have to be watching this with great

interest or something else. >> worried. >> a lot of anxiety. >> woodruff: yamiche, lisa, thank you both. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the congressional black caucus called for censuring president trump, over crude remarks about african nations and haiti. they said 130 house democrats are supporting the resolution. the chair of the black caucus, cedric richmond, urged house speaker paul ryan to allow a vote. >> the speaker should bring it up. because if he doesn't then he is enabling and continuing to allow the president to perpetuate this hateful rhetoric. and we're going to force this body to either associate themselves with the words of the president, or condemn him. >> woodruff: there was no immediate indication that republicans will allow a vote on the resolution. the death toll rose to 15 today, as the southern u.s. tried to recover from a winter storm and deep freeze. in north carolina, 2,000 trucks were out salting roads and

plowing snow. elsewhere, the problem was record cold. people in new orleans said they've struggled to cope. >> it's crazy for us in the deep south because we don't have any, you know, anything that's prepared for this kind of weather, and our pipes are freezing. yeah, it's just, it's just crazy. the sun feels good. that's the redeeming thing right now. >> woodruff: city officials in new orleans asked people to stop using water, after widespread damage to pipes. meanwhile, another powerful storm battered northern europe today. officials reported at least seven deaths in three countries. wind gusting to nearly 90 miles an hour blew down trees and flipped trucks. and, it forced germany to suspend long-distance train service. in the netherlands, the wind even blew people off bicycles as they tried to cross streets. syria warned turkey today against attacking u.s.-backed

kurdish forces in northwest syria. turkey claims the kurdish fighters are linked to rebels inside turkey. but the syrian deputy foreign minister said air defenses will shoot down turkish planes that enter syrian airspace. >> ( translated ): the presence of any turkish forces on syrian lands is totally rejected. we warn the turkish leadership that if they initiate combat operations, that will be considered an act of aggression by the turkish army. the syrian air defenses have restored their full force and they are ready to destroy turkish aviation targets. >> woodruff: meanwhile, turkey rejected assurances by secretary of state rex tillerson, that the u.s. is not creating a kurdish security force in syria. there's word that myanmar's military is continuing assaults on rohingya muslims. that comes a day after neighboring bangladesh agreed to begin returning rohingya refugees to myanmar, next week. refugees arriving in bangladesh

today said their homes had been burned in recent attacks. more than 655,000 rohingya have fled there since august. in kazakhstan, at least 52 people died today when fire engulfed a bus. it was traveling through the northwestern part of the country, on a route often used by migrant workers heading to russia. the cause of the fire is under investigation. back in this country, david and louise turpin, the california couple who allegedly imprisoned their 13 children, were formally charged with torture and other crimes. thturpins had eir first court appearance this afternoon. the district attorney accused them of "severe, emotional, physical abuse." >> the victims were often not released from their chains to go to the bathroom. none of the victims have seen a doctor in more than four years, none of the victims have ever seen a dentist. the children were, when they

were not chained up, locked in different rooms and fed very little on a schedule. >> woodruff: in addition to the other charges, david turpin is accused of performing a lewd act on a child. the senate gave final approval today to renewing fisa, the foreign intelligence collection program. it now goes to president trump. fisa focuses on targets abroad, but privacy advocates warn it also sweeps up americans' calls and e-mails. supporters say the program is crucial to national security. and, wall street backed off today after a record run-up. the dow jones industrial average lost nearly 98 points to close at 26,017. the nasdaq was down two points, and the s&p 500 slipped four. still to come on the newshour: a former c.i.a. officer arrested on suspicion of helping china. usa gymnasts confront the man who abused them. trumponomics, the president's

influence on the nation's economy, and much more. >> woodruff: we return to the eleventh hour race to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. this evening, i spoke with republican senator mike rounds of south dakota. a key question facing republicans: will they support a short term solution if it passes the house? senator mike rounds, thank you very much for joining us. if the house of representatives goes ahead and passes a short-term spending measure tonight and it goes to the senate, are you prepared to vote for it? >> not until we know what's in their proposal. if it's a propoasessal that they've offered earler which was until february 26th, then i think we've got a problem with it, just in terms of the impact that it has on the department of defense. we've been asking for some

assurances that the department of defense would be able to move forward with a contractual obligations, that they would be able to move forward with some of their readiness issues and their ability to actually repair some of their equipment using some funds that we have already appropriated for this next year but has not yet been adopted by the full snatd. so right now what we're saying to our leadership is look, we want to get to yes on this. but until you can at least provide us some evidence that we're doing the right thing for the department of defense, there are several of us that are no votes on the republican side. at the same time, if there is a shorter-term cr and i think there is a possibility of that as well, if that comes in, it is a little bit easier for us to provide leadership with an opportunity to try to get to a longer-term solution in terms of finishing out the also of the year with an omnibus bill which is what we are really after. >> woodruff: are you saying that if it is a short-term measure, that they were to come back in just a few days rather than a month, that there might be the ability to get some of these things done that you and

others would like to see get in there? >> i think so. and let me explain my logic on this. first of all i think there are a number of us who would like to keep the heat on for getting an omnibus completed which is basically using the new appropriations that we're trying to fund. and also the new authorizizations that provides the department of defense and other agencies with more up to date information. second of all f we do a short-term, it means for the democrats, they may very well have an interest in or at least they may very well see it as an opportunity to work with e president of the united states in termsf putting together a final border security arrangement, including addressing the daca issues. for me it means the visas we need in south dakota for our businesses during the tourist seasons that we have already run out of. so there are a number of items that could be addressed if we do a short-term. one of the reasons we talk about

it is we have the state of the union coming up. and a lot of that would be great information to be able to provide in a real chance for the president to celebrate some victories. >> i guess my question is, is that sort of really short-term possibility a real prospect here. because i understand from republican leaders in the congress, they're saying no, we are he not going to do that. >> and that is their position right now. they would like to do a 30 day. and we understand that. we are just not sure whether or not democrats would agree to that. and they really do control it in the senate, regardless of whether or not those of us who are defense hawks, whether or not we decide to vote for this as the best alternative or not. right now i'm a no vote. i told them i'm still open for discussion based upon what alternatives they can provide us for the department of defense but there are democrats here who if they vote no, we would not get to the 06 vote margin. and so they really do control that at this stage of the game. >> let me ask you about the

president's role in this. early this morning the president tweeted that he was upset because the children's health insurance provision, chip, was not in their for a longer period of time which is what he wanted. and then the white house later seemed to pull that back. what is your understanding of the president's position on all this? >> i think he's pointing out that what kind of a bargain is it where you can do a 26 day expansion or whatever or a 30 day extension and in return for that you give away one of the most powerful bargaining chips which is the extension of chips for a long period of time. >> but i guess my point is, that the president made a statement in a tweet and then the white house clarified it back in the other direction. mean time you have your own republican majority leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell who said yesterday i'm looking for something that president trump supports. he has not yet indicated what measure he's willing to sign. and i would be-- he said as soon as we figure out what he's for, he said then we can move ahead.

is it your sense that the president is being helpful in all of this? >> does it make it more challenging? yes, it does. but it also means he's really traying to stay in touch with s base. and sometimes if he doesn't have all the facts available to him or if he is looking at data and doesn't realize there has been additional movement in his direction, then we do have some problems that develop. so far, look, i think he's moving in the right direction. i think he could make his job easier if he would maybe not tweet as much. and if he would stand more in communication with leadership here and make the deals, get them done and tweet about the successes afterwards. >> senator, just finally, just continuing in that vein, this is, will be, if it passes, it will be the fourth short-term spending measure this congress has passed. and you have a republican in charge of the house and the senate. and the white house. how do you explain this? >> in the senate it takes 60

votes. we don't have 60 votes. while we may have the majority. we don't have a working majority which in this case is defined by 60 republicans. we've got 516789 he needs 60 to get anything on the floor of the senate so democrats control that part of it. the second part is this. this is not a new problem. this is one of the reasons why i have a difficult time supporting these short-term continuing resolutions. we have in the last 44 years actually made the appropriations process work the way that it is supposed to four times. and now in 2018 if you take a look at the amount of the total budget that we actually vote on, even if we were to pass all 12 appropriation bills and do it before october 1st, it would amount to about 28% of the entire budget that we actually spend because medicare, medicaid, social security, and interesting on the debt are not included in this omnibus proposal or in the appropriations bill, that is all on autopilot. >> well, it is quite a process

for the american people to watch. >> it has to be fixed, that's what we're talking about, it has to be fixed. >> senator mike rounds of south dakota, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> >> woodruff: a remarkable sentencing hearing in michigan has been described as heartbreaking, angry and cathartic. more than 100 girls and women have been confronting the man who abused them sexually for years and about how those experiences changed their lives. the man at the center of it all was a once-trusted physician who preyed on young women in the usa gymnastics program and in his role at michigan state university. one by one, they step forward in a lansing, michigan, courtroom to face their abuser. >> you manipulated me into thinking you were the good guy and helping me while sexually

abusing me over and over and over for your own twisted sexual pleasure. >> woodruff: for three days, former sports doctor larry ssaras listened torenching testimony by dozens of his victims. >> not victims but survivors, to tell you face to face that your days of manipulation are over. we have a voice now. we have the power now. >> woodruff: the women share not only similar stories of abuse, but lasting psychological scars. >> i have been suffering from p.t.s.d. for the last 20 years. i am so incredibly angry, angry that this happened, enraged it was allowed to happen, furious i was dealing with this trauma for 20 years, and didn't even realize it. >> woodruff: nassar worked for usa gymnastics for 29 years, including as a team doctor for four olympic games.

he also worked for years at michigan state university. more than 140 women have accused him of sexually abusing them under the pretense of medical treatments. the latest was olympic gold medalist simone biles. last november, nassar pleaded guilty to state charges of sexual assault. in court yesterday, one victim described the shock of hearing the allegations, and recognizing her own experience. >> he took that trust and used it to molest not only myself but over 140 young girls is something i still can't comprehend. we were just kids. >> woodruff: michigan state had investigated a federal title ix complaint against nassar in 2014, but brought no charges, and allowed him to keep working. the detroit news reported today

that details of his abuse reached 14 officials at michigan state at different times over the past 20 years. the university president said she was notified of the 2014 complaint and a police report filed against an "unnamed" sports medicine doctor, but never received a copy of the report. >> shame on you. i went public about my story back in january of 2016 and let me tell you i was terrified. i was terrified because of what you would do to me. >> woodruff: in december 2016, nassar was finally arrested, on federal charges of child pornography, and ultimately sentenced to 60 years in prison. he could be sentenced on the state charges tomorrow, after nearly 100 women have shared their stories in hopes he'll never again walk free. today, the michigan state student newspaper called for the universiy president's resignation.

joining us to talk about all of this and the response by usa gymnastics and michigan state is christine brennan. she's a reporter and sports columnist for "usa today," and has long covered the olympics. thank you for being with us. this is just horrible. one after another. it's almost unimaginable this story. >> this really, if you think about the sweep of the olympic games and history of the game this is probably the darkest stain in u.s. olympic history. there have been boycotts and other things but in terms of athletes who were in our living room and of course athletes we never heard of who were just on a dream trying to make the next level in gymnastics. whether it's simone biles or ally rasman or the girl next door t is appalling and awful and the fact that this story didn't get the attention it should have months, years earlier is another just horrible piece of the puzzle. >> woodruff: and they were just children when they started out. >> right. and i think a lot of people ask why, how could this happen?

how could there be over a hundred and not one speaking out. i think what you need to understand that is so essential here judy. we are talking about 13, 14, 15 year old girls. and if they are really good, they are in that olympic pipeline. that means mom and dad are spending lots of money on this. maybe the family is moving. maybe they're separating to go to a training camp, or at least for many weeks out of the year they are away. and how does that young girl who has got this olympic dream muster up the courage to tell her mom or dad or even a bigger deal, to go to the leaders of the gymnastics federation and say this is happening to me. because if they did that, they would have been just taken right out of the pool and brought another kid up. i think that is why this could continue in the >> woodruff: i think it is so hard for people to hear this, christine, and ask how could it go on and on for years and years and years without complaints until just the last few. >> well, then the leadership. we heard 24 story of michigan state and the president, in 2014 got this title 9 complaint.

and said that she said it was handled straight up, she said but she said that she never saw the report. 2014 is what, two and a half, three years after the penn state horrors, jerry sandusky, if you are a university president how can you not want to get that report and find out what is going on on your campus. because there is a two-prong story, this is u.s.a. gymnastics and also michigan state because that is where nasa ar was working for both. >> explain that, there were people who were responsible for these young women, in both of these institutions at the university and at u.s.a. gymnastics. what, what does it say about the structure of how this whole thing is organized, and the oversight. >> exactly. let's just say this right off the bat. they failed these young people. and in the case of u.s.a. gymnastics, they did get richard the c.e.o., he resigned steve ben penny. they brought a new person in, a woman and she is supposed to have a clean slate. and yet, they just announced that the they will nobt korolli

ranch they won't be using it any more. instead of being proactive the new c.e.o. just announced that today that they will not use the ranch any more yvment did that happen, because simon bilees in her statement the other day, olympic gold medalists one of the stars of the rio olympics when she gave her statement and saying that she in fact also had been a victim of nassar's abuse and sexual assault, she said it would be very difficult for her to go back to the ranch and train there. it would bring back all those bad memories yvment wasn't u.s.a. gymnastics talking about this several months ago. where is the proactive leadership and to your point whether michigan state or u.s.a. gymnastics, these adults failed time and time again they failed these kids. >> woodruff: so how many of the adults, christine who are in charge, are now out. and how many are still around who haven't answered all the questions. >> i think we can say not enough o are out. again. the big one was the c.e.o. of u.s.a. gymnastics. but no, there are a lot of people at u.s.a. gymnastics.

i'm surprised they haven't completely cleaned house. this is such a house of horrors. this is such a horrific event. and then as far as michigan state, so far we're saying several leaders, we're told, knew of these things, not just the university president. and my sense is as outrage continues to grow on this story and it is beginning to build momentum, that maybe we will see more resignations. >> woodruff: what is the future for young women gymnasts in the u.s. program? because if you look at this, you think why would i want my child to go to something like this. >> again, here is americans cheering their lungs out for these great gymnasts in 2012, 2014 and 20167 and then you hear these stories. yes, why would any parent do this. the committee has started something called safe sport, it seems quite late in the game but where you k the idea it is a clearing house, independent and if they are concerned, you could call or be anonymous and start to report these things.

it say good first step. but you have to keep in mind that these kids who are trying for the olympics have such pressures on them that to be able to step out of that world as you would hope they would, they don't have the maturity, and they know that they could lose their spot. there has to be advocates and i would say from the o u.s. olympic committee, and evy sporkts the u.s.a. swimming has had issues in the mast. >> fiejly, this has to be personally difficult for you because you interviewed many of these young women over the years. and as you look back on it nowrks you know that this was going on at the same time you and other journalists were talking with them. >> you know, we're talking to them about the pressures of trying to win gold medals at the 2012 olympics in london, judy. and we had no idea what was happening behind the scenes and what they were dealing with. let's just say how amazing these young women were to be able to compartmentalize and to continue to do the great things and win the olympic gold medals that they did. not only for themselves but for

their country. >> woodruff: you're right t makes us even more admiring of these remarkable young women, christine brennan, a ternl story but thank you very much for being here. >> thank you, my pleasure. thanks. >> woodruff: a former c.i.a. officer was arrested this week on charges of mishandling classified information. the f.b.i. said jerry chun shing lee had in his possession notebooks that contained names and contact information of c.i.a. informants and agents in china. john yang now has more on lee's arrest, amid a massive "mole hunt" in the agency. >> yang: judy, that hunt has been on for years, looking for who may have helped the chinese government roll up a significant piece of the u.s. spying network in china. still, after lee's arrest, questions linger over the entire case. here to lend some clarity is adam goldman, the "new york times" reporter who first broke the story last year of the loss

of american assets in china, and has been leading the paper's coverage this week of lee's arrest. thanks for joining us. first of all just tell white house is lee and what drew investigators attention to him? >> jerry lee is a chinese american who worked for the cia, joined the cia in 1994, was stationed in tokyo, he was stayinged in beijing. he was involved in chinese operations. and left the agency in 2007. and we're told he left disgruntled and that his career had plateaued. >> give us the context of this investigation. talk about the-- the loss of the american assets in china, the scope of that. >> so we're told that approximately about the end of 2010 e agency realizes it has a problem. they have begun to lose informant ntion china and

eventually the fbi is brought in to help investigate this counterintelligence issue. and they continued to lose people into 2011 and 12, i think by 13 the losses had been stemmed. but it was devastating. we're told 18 to 20 people were either killed or imprisoned. and the magnitude of the loss really, really crippled the agency's operations there. >> and lee has been charged with not returning information, classified information when he left the cia of 2007 but he has not been charged with espionage, is that right? no, so basically we had the notebooks, he kept, that had highly classified nrvetion. the information was found in cables t was the same information that was found in cables that lee had written while in the cia. so there would be no reason for lee to have these books outside of the cia. but he's in charge with unlawful retention of classified

information. carries up to ten years. >> and as you have been writing, there is a debate within the cia and the fbi about whether lee's responsible for giving this information to the chinese or even if there is a mole at all. >> well, i think for some of the people who investigated this, they could clearly, they could demonstrate that lee had information who knew about some of the people who were killed, some but not all of them. so how do you explain how the chinese racked up everybody. i mean we've heard it had been a combination of several things. you know, lee might, might have been involved. i want to stress that, might have been involved. the way they communicate with their secret agents in china might have been compromised. or sloppy trade craft by agency people in china, that means essentially when they went to go

meet their informant or their agents in china, that chinese intelligence managed to pick that up. >> now you also wrote in today's paper that lee was first questioned, or i should say that they first found this information, this material in lee's belongings, in 2012. he was questioned and then he was released. he was let go even though there was this cloud of suspicion around him. what was going on? >> lee came back t was a ruse. the ciaad, you know, had offered him a sensitive contract. and they wanted to get him back to the states because he had been living in hong kong and at that time they were fearful he was di vowl jing secrets to china. so they wanted him back and they offered a secret contract, so they managed to lure him back and his family, and they interviewed him five times but they never disclosed to mr. lee that in fact they a, he had these books filled with information or they suspected he was a chinese spy.

and they made a calculated, it was a calculated gamble. they let him go. obviously hoping to get more information about what he knew or his interaks with other people. and they also were concerned that if they confronted lee and not been able to charge him, if they had confronted him and had charged hims chinese would have been tipped off that the fbi knew that they were losing their assets. so you know this was a really life-and-death time for the fbi and cia and what to do with lee. >> and whether or not or not lee is responsible or even if there was a mole, what is the impact of the loss of those u.s. assets is of those sources of information inside china on the united states intelligence gathering and in china. >> before we started losing theetion informants we had extraordinary advice ability into chinese operations, government operations, whether

intel, military, and after they rolled out these informants it was almost a complete blackout we're told it is one of the most devastating intelligence failures in moarnd ci history. >> a real life spy story adam goldman of the new york times, thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: a brief but spectacular take on seeing the world through the eyes of a child with autism. but first, this weekend will mark a full year since president trump was inaugurated. it has been a week of good economic news which he also touted today, including the dow jones average quickly cracking the 26,000 mark and apple announcing it will bring huge overseas profits back to invest

in the u.s., and pay tens of billions of dollars in taxes. how much of that credit should go to the president? our economics correspondent, paul solman, posed that question for his weekly series, "making sense." >> reporter: unemployment: 4.1%, down from 4.8 when president trump took office. g.d.p.: growing at over 3%, higher than the last two obama years. the stock market: hitting record highs nearly every day. and president trump says that it's a function of his policies. at the center of america's recessions are the massive tax cuts that i just signed into law, with recommend does tax relief for working families, to small businesses, for big businesses that produce jobs, for just about everybody, tremendous numbers. and you are already seeing what is happening.

>> reporter: and so, the question: does the president deserve the credit? at the annual economists convention in philadelphia last week, i started with some of his toughest critics. >> if you look at the trends of job creation, of growth of the economy, of the stock's market appreciation, there's not a very notable break on january 20th. >> reporter: that's austan goolsbee, from the obama white house. lisa cook served there too. >> we set in motion what we see now. you can't create an economy overnight. reporter: now for the full-on defense of trump's policies, we were trying to secure an interview with the head of the president's council of economic advisors, kevin hassett. but though he was at the conference, no luck. so instead we turned to longtime american university professor bob lerman. >> on policy, i would give him maybe a b-minus to a b. >> reporter: lerman calls himself a "moderate" or market economist. he likes much of what trump is doing for the economy. >> i think the corporate reforms

make sense. i think he's been pro energy now you can argue against it on environmental grounds but i think that several steps will expand output in the energy field. >> reporter: and that means jobs. >> and that means jobs and usually good jobs. >> reporter: and how do the naysayers reconcile their low marks with a high-grade economy? non-partisan former international monetary fund chief economist olivier blanchard. >> other things are going on which explain why the economy's doing well. >> reporter: and what, besides momentum, are those "other things"? for the companies in the standard and poor's 500 stock index, start with their earnings from elsewhere. >> more than half from the s&p 500 actually come from outside the u.s. and the world is in much better shape. the u.s. stock market has done well because the rest of the world is doing well because uncertainty in the rest of the

world has decreased and because of the tax cut, because no matter what pre-tax profit you make if you get a tax cut you get more post-tax profits. >> reporter: but that's a key part of what trump's taking credit for: that the tax cut has both spurred the stock market and will lead to more investment, more higher-paying jobs. and indeed, more than 70 financial institutions, airlines, at&t, will now grant employee bonuses or raises. fiat-chrysler announced a billion-dollar investment to build ram trucks near detroit, currently made in mexico. even wal-mart hiked its minimum wage. but then, wal-mart is also closing 63 sam's club stores. so what matters is the net effect in the long run, argues austan goolsbee. because in the nearer term, for individuals, say... >> the tax bill is a small temporary cut to taxes for a

small number of middle class people and a very large permanent tax cut of high degree of windfall handout. it is not geared towards the people that elected trump. it is piling on of the continuing income inequality trends that have been there for a long-- >> reporter: decades. >> it's not as though president trump created that, they've been going for decades. >> reporter: republicans, democrats. >> i just don't understand the argument that let's try to steer the tax code to pile onto the trends that have already been disturbing. >> reporter: and here's another long-term economic negative, says libertarian economic historian deirdre mccloskey: the president's aversion to trade. >> trashing the north american free trade agreement, stopping the trans-pacific thing. all of this is nuts from the economic point of view in my opinion. >> reporter: that's because to almost all economists, voluntary trade benefits sellers and

consumers alike. as to trump's trumpeting the liberating effects of deregulation, in the long run, clinton advisor and nobel laureate joe stiglitz asks: >> why do we have these regulations? because we want to breathe clean air, we want to be able to drink water, we want to be able to be sure the food we're eating is safe. we don't want the banks to engage in the kind of risk- taking that could risk our entire economy. the question is, what is the cost that we're going toe ced with strippingway the regulation? >> reporter: so that's why you give the trump administration a low grade for its first year? >> i think there are a lot of other things that disturb me even more. the long productivity of our society depends on science, innovation, research, and he's been slashing research budgets.

long term, to me, that is devastating. >> reporter: and, in addition to tax cuts, trade, deregulation and science, what about the long-term cost of not building the infrastructure the president promised, says professor cook. >> i really thought that we were going to invest in long term growth and i haven't seen that. >> reporter: but the idea behind the tax bill is that the companies will now invest in america as opposed to overseas. >> well, why not invest broadly in america through infrastructure. these coal jobs that possibly may never come back, what can take their place with the skills that the coal-miners have? construction. the building of bridges, the repairing of bridges. we still have the worst grade from the civil engineers with respect to infrastructure. >> reporter: and finally, if that weren't enough piling on, what's the cost of increased uncertainty, austan goolsbee asks. >> i took at face value the arguments made by the business

community for at least half of the obama administration that the single worst thing that you could do to business formation and investment was to add uncertainty. there has in modern memory not really been a president who's added as much uncertainty, geopolitical uncertainty, regulatory, a whole bunch of policy uncertainty, more than what president trump has. >> reporter: but if uncertainty is so bad, how come consumer confidence is the highest its been since the dawn of the millennium? >> i was very uncertain as an economist about what would happen with the economy but it seems as if consumers are able to divorce many of their concerns about america's political state from its economics. >> reporter: though he still worries about the long-term, ohio state economist trevon logan acknowledges the good economic news in the here and now. for example... >> the numbers just released show african american unemployment is at its lowest rate ever, and white

unemployment is at one of the lowest rates it's ever been so we're near full employment. >> reporter: so then why so much negativity from economists? >> i think in part because uh people have taken a very negative view of him personally. >> reporte you're a republican? she is. and rhonda sharpe is also a president of the national economic association, founded in 1969 as the caucus of black economists. our last interviewee, she had been listening to all the anti- trump talk at the economics convention. and it worried her. >> i think that he probably has the ability to reinvent himself in ways that we haven't seen other politicians. i think the big question is going to be which way that goes and if folks who are very opposed to him recognize that they have an opportunity potentially to influence some of that. >> reporter: so are you worried that in reflexively opposing him

people make it harder for him to change direction and be more bipartisan? >> i think both the reflexive response to him not only makes it difficult for him but i think it also makes it difficult for anyone that wants to be a part of that. >> reporter: part of the bipartisanship that sharpe, at least, thinks may still be possible. for the pbs newshour, this is economics correspondent paul solman, reporting from philadelphia. >> woodruff: next, another installment of our weekly brief but spectacular series, where we ask people about their passions. pulitzer prize-winning journalist ron suskind frequently writes about around american presidents and national affairs. tonight, a more personal subject. suskind speaks honestly about his son, owen.

>> fall of 1993, we arrived in d.c., my wife and i, cornelia and two lovely kids and i'm the senior national affairs reporter for the wall street journal. so i've got to kill people to get-- i killed ten guys to get the job, fabulous job. the moment i arrived, we found out our son, our little guy, is autistic. he vanishes on us, that we-- we hae no way to talk to him, and it crushes us. when we first heard the word autism, we were stunned. i said, you mean like rain man? like dustin hoffman in that movie? and the doctor says, "well maybe, but you know he speaks and some of them never get their speech back." and that's the last thing i heard in that appointment. how could that be, that can't be my son. it was and our education was about to begin. there's no way to talk to him, he can't even make his needs

known, we just watched him. then all of a sudden, it dawns in us, "what's he doing, he's doing what we all do, story." he's watching the disney animated movies. all the ones you know: "beauty and the beast," "aladdin," "the lion king," "dumbo," "peter pan." he can't really communicate but all of a sudden, in a moment, it dawns on us, he's making sense of the world using these movies. just like we all do. as a mirror, as a map, as a vessel, that's what we do with story. we started playing out scenes, night after night. we call them the basement sessions, we all play characters. first one i'm balou then i'm merlin, then i'm mufassa. he learns to read by reading credits, he emerges as a unique autstic individual. at that point i'm interviewing presidents you know, but the fact that it matters, what's happening in the basement as we meditate on the emergence of the hero. that's the stuff that's most meaningful on our life. we realized he's memorized his movies, 50 disney animated movies since "snow white."

i go up to the room, how do i find a way back in, i grab a puppet, a puppet i know he was, iago, the evil psychic to the villain jaffar in aladdin. you know this character, gilbert gottfried, anyone can do his voice. it's like a bustuisinart." alright, alright, how does it feel to be you?" he turns to the puppet like he's bumping into an old friend. he says, "not good, i'm lonely and i have no friends." and we talk for two to three minutes. it's iago and owen, back and forth. and then i hear him clear his throat and then he says, "i love the way your foul little mind works" that's jaffar. we begin to live inside of story, we live inside of characters as our son owen says, and now those characters live in us. the key question, who decides what the meaningful life is, we saw the way the world looked at our son and he looked at them long enough to look away. who decides what the meaningful life is? is that a decision someone else makes for us? some values?

some received wisdom? some cultural decision making happening from on high? well currently they made a decision about him. who decides what the meaningful life is? i'm ron suskind, and this is my brief but spectacular take on finding everybody's story. >> woodruff: you can find additional brief but spectacular episodes on our website, pbs.org/newshour/brief. the u.s. spleem court 2e6r7 regardly blocked a lower courted order mandating that north carolina redraw its congressional maps by neck week. also an npr investigation found that the c.e.o. and publisher of the los angeles times ross levinson has been a defendant in two sexual harassment lawsuits. his female colleagues accused him of acting inappropriately over the past two decades, and

creating a quote frathouse environment. and the conservative freedom caucus in the u.s. house of representatives now says that a majority of its members will support the stop gap government spending bill making its passage in congress more likely. you can visit our website for more updates on the newshour online right now, the pbs newshour has teamed up with the "new york times" to bring you a new book club called "now read this." the first selection is jesmyn ward's novel "sing, unburied, sing." on our website, you can quickly immerse yourself in a critical moment of the story with an annotated scene from the author, where she tells us more about the characters and the language. all that's at pbs.org/newshour. a video that caught our eye. while cruising through the chilly waters of antarctica, scientists had an unexpected

visitor: an adelie penguin. this penguin hopped into a boat operated by the australian antarctic division, while the team was collecting water samples for a research project. a team member said the bird wasn't fleeing a predator like a seal, or resting. penguins are just naturally curious and can swim hundreds of miles without a break. and that's the newshour for tonight. on friday, a potential government shutdown and the screenwriter behind the hit movie "the post." i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language. >> and with the ongoing support

of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour pductns, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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